Ex-premier Letta snubs vote on election reform

Civati also among 13 'protest' absences

(see related)
(ANSA) - Rome, March 12 - Ex-premier Enrico Letta was among
13 members of the center-left Democratic Party (PD) who were
absent without receiving authorization from a House vote on an
election-reform bill authored by PD chief and Premier Matteo
Renzi.
Joining Renzi in what was seen as a sign of protest was
Pippo Civati, who represents a more left-leaning wing in the PD,
and who ran against Renzi in last fall's PD primary.

Civati was one of the few PD members who openly defied
Renzi in a party coup last month to unseat Letta from office and
take his place.

The move opened the 39-year-old former mayor of Florence to
accusations of hypocrisy after repeatedly insisting he would
never seek the highest office without a general vote.
Just before Renzi's reform bill passed Wednesday, the
premier said he had been the target of an effort to derail his
authority in the majority PD.